1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoding apparatus and method, and a decoding apparatus and method. In particular, the present invention relates to an encoding apparatus and method, and a decoding apparatus and method, which can effectively utilize hardware resources in an encoding process or a decoding process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an archive system or image database in the related art, an uncompressed image, a so called a master image, is stored and maintained, and the master image is read and compressed by an encoder. Also, a file of the result of compression is transmitted through a network or the like, or stored in a recording medium (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3516450 and Japanese Patent No. 3594017).
Also, for example, a code stream in which image data is compressed is received through a network and expanded by a decoder. Image data as the result of expansion is transmitted through a network or the like, or stored in a recording medium.